I'm familiar with some of the folks that started Nations U as part of the fellowship of churches of Christ. As I understand it, their real intent is to reach folks outside the US who cannot afford traditional US tuition rates. "Normally, a school charges tuition and receives large amounts of money from public and/or private sectors to maintain its operations. Since the majority of potential students around the world cannot afford tuition, room, board, and other fees required, NU charges no tuition or fees, thereby making education affordable to every world citizen" www.nationsu.org If you are looking for a regionally accredited degree, Nations isn't for you. If you are seeking religious education - they are certainly worth a look. Regards - Andy
I’ve got plenty of degrees, I’ve just always been intrigued by them, and my wife has put a hold on any more major education related spending in 2009… So I’m seeing what Excelsior can do given my history is littered with classes and programs I’ve started and then dumped, but I still have this routine of time where I wake up at 4AM ready to go learn something..
Sometimes that's difficult to define, let alone establish. My own take on Nations is that it's one of those well-meaning non-accredited schools that does offer real education and that it might be extremely valuable to many students. But... I'm less sure how its degrees stack up against degrees from more conventional schools. Personally, when I read that somebody has a degree from NationsU, I mentally translate 'degree' into 'certificate'. The diploma certainly indicates some additional education, but I don't really know how much. Of course, if one's motive for studying is simply personal interest and growth, then that might not be a big issue. These degrees may or may not find acceptance in some church contexts, I don't know. (That probably varies a great deal.) I expect that the more academic seminary and religious-studies worlds won't be tremendously impressed.
NationsUniversity Accreditation According to NationsUniversity website the school is seeking accreditation and made some changes around August/September 2008 to the degree requirements. Who they are seeking accreditation with, I have yet to figure out.
I've looked over Nations U. and corresponded with them briefly. They are sincere in their efforts and certainly not a mill. They have a fairly simple method of learning evaluations but I think if someone were looking for a really, really inexpensive (their not 100% free) education they are good to go. If you are looking for a "degree" with all the "rights and privileges" then I'd look elsewhere. This isn't likely to further a career or anything but then even that's not 100% right all of the time. How many times have we see totally fraudulent degrees listed for politicians, professors and other professionals?
